Saturday, October 31, 2009

I just set the windows today...2 paintings by local artist Dan Tran. His work really caught my eye when I was jurying Leap of Faith. I was mesmerized by how he uses color and by the mix of image and metaphor. Zach interviewed him this week:

When did you first become interested in the arts?

In high school, I loved drawing classes. In college, I took one class of painting but got bored. Then I took a detour in life through manual labor, farming, engineering and business – you name it. Now I’m back, as clueless as I was 30 years ago.

As a self-taught artist, what was this process like? What resources were available to you and with what other mediums have you experimented?

Challenging. First, very quickly, I knew I did not want to paint just for the soothing of the heart, but for unleashing the passion of the mind, which put me squarely in the midst of contemporary art. Second, I must navigate the sea of contemporary art and sort out for myself the authentic and the frivolous, the endless hope and the dead end.

I went to museums, attended artists’ talks, devoured art magazines, visited artists’ web sites to get a feel of where art is. I made friends with artists, art critics, gallery owners, many of whom advised me on techniques, critiqued my ideas, and gave me shows. Besides acrylic, I am experimenting with mixed-media in my next series, and want to explore installations.

Who would you say are your inspirations in contemporary art in America? In contemporary art in Vietnam?

From American art, Pollock, DeKooning, Warhohl, Basquiat as bold experimentalists. In some aspects, conceptual art. Vietnam has barely entered the house of contemporary art, with some promising young artists. Other countries in Southeast Asia are more advanced in that respect.

How do you feel that art can be vital to religion and/or spirituality? What interests you most about spirituality as a subject matter?

If art can make a landscape or still life or a concept become alive, then it can definitely awaken spirituality. Whereas religion relies on dogma, rituals to regiment spirituality, art relies on the creative mind to unleash spirituality.

Many of your pieces use characters, allegories, and icons from Christianity as well as Eastern religions. Can you talk about some of these characters and what their juxtaposition represents to you? Why do you choose to make them faceless?

The intent of juxtaposing otherwise irreconcilable realities is to dissolve the world of appearances, fraught with illusions and schisms, and reveal the essence of spirituality, which may be faceless and unifying. Besides characters from religion, I use many from myths and legends of both East and West as long as they allow me, with a simple twist, to make commentaries about life, about the individual, at this very moment.

How do you feel the process of immigration had an affect on your artwork as a whole? your stylistic choice and/or your choice of subject matter?

In this world of mass communication, cultural borders should be vanishing. It is not, for the simple reason that the weak will not allow the strong to swallow them up in the process of globalization. At one point in time, contemporary art strived to become universal, erasing the barriers of ethnicity. Later on, it became clear that universality was dictated from New York, and the world rebelled against it. So the Mexican, the Chinese, the Indian, while appropriating Western techniques, returned to their ethnicities. I use ethnic vocabulary in my work, only because that is what I know best, as a person learning to speak a new language, but I hope my ideas have universal validity, and, as my style matures, my ethnicity should recede into the background. As an immigrant, I must fight the label of “American painter” or “Vietnamese painter”, and hope to be known only as a true artist.

Would you say your artwork is the result of a conscious blending of Vietnamese and American aesthetics, or is it a circumstantial byproduct of traveling and existing between the two countries?

It is a conscious blending of Vietnamese and American aesthetics, insofar as I set out to use whatever means – American pop art, street art, surrealism, Eastern and Western allegories, myths – to drive to a transcendent point: reality is not what it looks. Look deeper, search, experiment, travel – in the mind that is. Exist, not between two countries, but between multiple states of mind.

What do you see in your role as an artist in America versus your role as an artist in Vietnam? How is the Artist perceived in each country? What opportunities are present in one but not the other? What are the differences and the similarities as you've experienced them?

I believe the two roles are the same: as an artist, I hope to contribute to American and Vietnamese art something new, that has not been done before, that has roots in both, and that answers some deep human quest, much like jazz improvisation, born of the collision of two cultures. Comparing the two art milieus, I can only say that American artists have the means and the will to experiment, and they benefit from an infrastructure (curators, galleries, auction houses, grants) unequalled in the world. Vietnamese artists remain the art guerillas, fighting for survival, against much larger odds.

Friday, October 30, 2009

This collage might give you an idea of what is to come! It is a broad show, points of view from all the cardinal directions! LEAP OF FAITH: give it a rest, artists consider sabbath and other things that might reflect faith! OPening Friday, November 6, 7-9pm at both Susan Hensel Gallery and ArtSpace at Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church at 1620 E. 46th St., Minneapolis.

See Take Another Step, Carlson's most recent body of work. He chronicles the women that he walked alongside during his experience completing the Twin Cities Breast Cancer 3 Day. Up beat, lushly painted. Then listen to poetry! You must experience this!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Take Another Step opened Saturday with people from as far away as Denver in attendance. Pink champagne, pink cookies, pink MM's and women who embraced Mark and welcomed him into their Breast Cancer Three Day team of walkers. They were in attendance, many wearing pink, all wearing smiles and providing their ongoing support.

The video is now up at Three Minute Egg. This is a wonderful service to the arts community of the Twin Cities. Watch it! Support it! Make suggestions for it! Watch the September 28th edition to see an interview with Andrea Miller and a small glimpse of her performance.http://3minuteegg.org/

Sunday, September 27, 2009

The Combat Papermakers and Warrior Writers are leaving town today and leaving their mark. Vets and friends & family of vets were touched and changed. Hopefully the local work will continue on...it seems pretty likely.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

While musicians played at Cupa Joe's, Zach, Eric & I began the demonstration stencil process.We taped the stencil edges up with duct tape. Zach rolled little loops of tape and placed them behind the floppier edges. Surprisingly, the wind made the styrene flap around a bit.We masked the area around the stencil with paper. Nothing fancy, newspaper would work.

Zach and I sprayed several colors through the stencil. It was important to hold the sprayer away about 8 inches or so, to reduce over spray on the really rough stucco. When the stencil was removed, the design was pretty clear. I did not expect sharp edges.

We flipped the stencil over, and did another round of colors.The bottom of the stencil was too hard an edge for my taste. So, Zach and I taped off an area and filled it in with the remaining green and purple paint.Zachary Pearl was the artist who designed this first stencil for Corcoran Neighborhood. He gracefully agreed to help do this one. It was pretty easy. We spent maybe 2 or 2 1/2 hours including clean-up. It is helpful to have a friend help you tape the stencil to your surface. It is surprisingly heavy and floppy. Once it is up and masked, it is easy to paint.